As the Charlotte Hornets begin its teardown, a productive future remains in view

It’s been a year of change in Charlotte, for North Carolina’s NBA franchise. Michael Jordan sold the team. News just hit that general manager Mitch Kupchak will be transitioning into an advisory role. Head coach Steve Clifford’s status in the future is uncertain (with a new front office on the way, this is typical). And Charlotte unloaded some pieces at the recent NBA trade deadline.

The Charlotte Hornets have dealt three of their starting five from opening night of the 2023-24 NBA season: PJ Washington, Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier.

Washington was traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Grant Williams, Seth Curry and a first-round pick.

Terry Rozier was traded to the Miami Heat a few weeks ago for Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick. Lowry is agreeing to a buy out and is rumored to be joining the Philadelphia 76ers.

Gordon Hayward was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Vasilije Micic, Tre Mann, Davis Bertans and some second-round picks.

Related: The NBA All-Star game is coming up. BetMGM has a number of fun wagers available for betting on the game. Currently, BetMGM has the West All-Stars favored by 2.5 points. Note that BetMGM North Carolina is launching in March!

While the Hornets clearly have an eye on the future, they do have a promising core of young talent. While the North Carolina team has missed on a number of draft picks in recent years (cough, James Bouknight), Brandon Miller has been a win from the recent draft. Miller is averaging 16.4 points per game on the season with 38.4% shooting from deep.

LaMelo Ball has been considered one of the best young talents in the league in recent years, but injuries have certainly made his future a bit more questionable.

Still, Ball, Miller and young big Mark Williams are a promising core from which to build in the years ahead. Charlotte sits at 12-41 on the season, third worst in the NBA Eastern Conference (4th worst overall in the league). While this year’s NBA draft doesn’t have the buzz of last year’s with the Wemby prize, Charlotte is well positioned to get a top pick and add another nice piece to their future plans.

FanDuel North Carolina currently has the Charlotte Hornets regular season win total sitting at 17.5 wins:

For NBA betting enthusiasts, there’s more to consider. FanDuel also has odds available for team to get the no. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Something Charlotte Hornet fans are going to be increasingly dialed in for. Odds are as of February 13, 2024.

The NBA is never boring, even when you’re bad. When you’re bad, now it becomes a race to the bottom, and a race to the top of the NBA Draft. Fans are increasingly good at finding hope at the bottom of the standings as we look to the future potential of unproven NBA draft prospects.

It’s better than the middle. Charlotte is making sure they exit the middle.

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